Electronic mixing controllers or consoles are widely used by professional or amateur DJs (disc-jockeys) to select and broadcast pieces of music in discotheques or a parties and to interact with these pieces of music (if necessary with visual accompaniments such as images, video material or visual effects) especially to accelerate, slow down and/or repeat a portion (these are processing operations known as “mixing”).
These electronic mixing consoles are an alternative or a complement to vinyl turntables (or record players). They can furthermore be used to mix audio-video clips and synchronize music with video (or vice versa).
There are relatively compact mixing consoles which can be easily transported. Some of them can be connected to a data-processing apparatus, a laptop computer, for example, on which a mixing software program is implemented, for example the “Virtual DJ” (registered mark) software from the firm Atomix Productions which is capable of mixing audio and video tracks. With this software, it is possible to perform scratching with the video in the same way as with audio only, i.e. with the same impact on the sound track of the video clip as if a soundtrack having no visual accompaniment were to be mixed.
Classically, a mixing console comprises a control surface on which there are control means such as for example rotary buttons, push buttons, rectilinear potentiometers or faders used for setting the audio signals (in terms of equalization, volume, balance, gain etc).
One or more jog wheels or jog dials are also provided. A jog wheel of this kind enables the user to move within musical libraries or within a musical piece or else accelerate or slow down the playback of a musical piece.
During the reading of a piece of music, a pressure exerted by a user on the jog wheel enables the creation of a sound effect known as a “scratch” as when a DJ places his hand on a vinyl microgroove record when it is being played on a record player (thus interrupting its rotation) and moves the record forward or backward.
It is desirable that the mixing console should detect such scratching on the part of the user, i.e. the action of the user's hand or fingers on the jog wheel.
Solutions have been proposed implementing a capacitive electrical detection device. This solution has the drawback of requiring the use or addition of a microcontroller enabling this type of detection, which is not supported by all present-day microcontrollers. The cost of the electronics is therefore increased.
Furthermore, the working of a capacitive detection device of this kind can be disturbed by the presence of static electricity or for example by the fact that the user's shoes are not ground-connected and therefore electrically insulate the user.
Furthermore, it is desirable for the user to know that the mixing console has detected the pressure that he is exerting on the jog wheel, i.e. the weight of his hand or fingers when he makes a scratch.
In addition, certain jog wheels are not sufficiently silent.
Besides, most current-day mixing consoles do not allow the DJ to adjust the resistance of the rotation of the jog wheel or wheels according to preference.
More generally, present-day mixing consoles do not offer any sensation close to that of vinyl turntables.
Nor are they compatible with jog wheels of different diameters.
Finally the jog wheels of current mixing consoles detecting the pressure of the user's hand or fingers use numerous parts which make them complex to assemble and increases their cost.
In other words, existing mixing consoles do not give full satisfaction.